


Ready, Steady, Fire

by HedonistInk



Series: Kai's Zine Scenes [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), Injury, Kissing, M/M, Pining, Starboy: A Lance Zine, set sometime around S3 probably I think?, subtle shklance, they're soft boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-05 13:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18367211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedonistInk/pseuds/HedonistInk
Summary: Sometimes saving the universe was a little bit risky, but as long as they worked together, they had this in the bag.





	Ready, Steady, Fire

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm going to be posting up a bunch of old zine pieces that have not gotten posted for one reason or another! First up is this piece which was written about two years ago for Starboy: A Lance Zine! For this piece, I had the pleasure of working collaboratively with Pittssmitts! You can find their [art pieces on their tumblr!](http://pittssmitts.tumblr.com/post/168483767428/all-four-of-my-pieces-for-lancezine-finally) This was a fun piece to do.

"Lance!" Shiro's voice crackled over the comms as Black narrowly dodged out of the way of another Galran fighter. 

"On it!" Lance called back, attacking Shiro's pursuer without hesitation. 

Any minute now. Any minute now, Keith would come through. He'd sweep in once Pidge got the shields on the base ship down and blast it to pieces. 

Any minute now. 

But Pidge was taking longer than expected to get the shields down while stashed in the ship's blind spot. Hunk was laying down good cover fire and more or less acting as a physical shield for the blasts but he was starting to take heavy damage himself. This wasn't good. 

"Pidge… come on, any—gnh!—any time now!" Keith gritted out, dodging blasts. 

Lance couldn't help but nod his agreement, hands clenching tighter in their control positions. He could feel Blue's reassuring purr and grinned slightly at the feeling of the low rumble in the back of his thoughts. "I know. We got this, girl." 

"Alright, Keith. Let's get this done," Shiro's voice came over the comms, calm and steady. He was always so in control. Lance admired it. He hoped to sound like that one day. 

"You got it, Shir— _ nngh! _ " Keith's pained grunt was preceded by a loud blast, strong enough to rattle Lance and his Lion even with as far away from Keith as he was. 

" _ Keith! _ Keith, are you ok!?" Shiro's voice sounded panicked. It had Lance spinning on the spot towards where he'd last seen Keith, heart thudding in his throat. That definitely didn't sound good. 

There was the Red Lion, a chunk missing out of her hind leg and sparking weakly in the thin atmosphere. 

"Can— _ chkkkk _ —ve her. She's not resp— _ hhhh _ —ng." Keith's voice came over the comms, crackling and sounding more than a little panicked. Not good, Keith never panicked. He just didn't. It wasn't his thing.

Was the atmosphere of Red compromised? Was Keith alright? Was he hurt? If Red wasn't even responding to him… How bad was the damage? 

Before Lance could think too much about the panic rising in his chest and choking off his throat, Shiro was rushing in. Black's jaws clamped lightly around the back of Red's neck. "Everyone! Fall back!" 

No… they couldn't run away now. Not after— "Shiro. I can do this," Lance pipped up, gripping tighter at the controls, narrowing his focus as he grabbed for his bayard. 

They had one shot at this. They couldn't miss their chance. Not now. 

"Lance… You can't!" Hunk  protested. "Keith's lion is faster than yours and—"

"I've  _ got _ this." Lance's tone was firm, solid, confident. Of course, Hunk's uncertainty only made him all the more determined, jabbing his bayard into the port and twisting it. "Sure, Keith is faster. And he's got the agility. But if Keith can get it from up close… With the shields down… Then I can get it from here. I just gotta…" Lance maneuvered into position, lining up his gun carefully. 

Lance let out a breath, slowly taking aim. It was just like shooting with his blaster. Lance visualized aiming with his blaster as he narrowed his focus. All he had to do was focus himself and breathe. Breathe in… Breathe out… Prepare… Breathe in… Aim… Breathe out… Steady… 

The blast rang out, rattling Blue's cockpit with its force and colliding with their target a fraction of a moment later. There was a tense moment of waiting before the chain reaction of blasts was set off, fire and a series of explosions coursing through the insides of the corridors. 

_ Direct hit. Yes! _

"Did you  _ see _ that!? Did you see  _ that!? _ " Whooping and cheering, Lance wanted to allow himself a 'victory lap' of sorts before heading back to the ship with the others but there wasn't time. Instead, he focused on turning his attention back to Shiro. "Keith, is he…" 

"I… I don't know." Shiro's voice sounded small, worried, and Lance felt his chest clench again, struggling to breathe. Shiro never sounded like that. "We have to get him back to the castle."

"Go. I'll cover you." Lance replied without hesitation, blasting at an enemy coming up on Shiro's rear. 

"Fall back." Shiro called out over the comms, carrying Keith and Red as Pidge and Hunk followed behind him. Lance headed up the rear, blasting after the few remaining enemies pursuing them. 

The trip back to the castleship felt like an eternity when Lance had no idea if Keith was alright. If anything had happened to him then… Lance shook the thought out of his head every time it dared to settle in. 

Keith would be fine. 

He had to be. 

Back at the ship, Hunk managed to hobble himself to a pod more or less, bleeding what looked like pretty badly from a head wound but still on his feet. Pidge leaned on Hunk until they split ways with Pidge going to patch herself up with bandages. Shiro swung Keith's arm over his shoulder and guided him. Keith seemed to be lolling between consciousness and semi-conscious robotic footsteps. Lance stayed by Keith and Shiro's sides, hands going up to guard Keith against falling reflexively. 

"…Hey." Keith's voice startled Lance and he looked up at the other Paladin's face suddenly, spotting Keith looking back at him as they rounded the corner towards the pods. He seemed to be gaining his footing again slightly as Shiro stepped away to set up the pod.

"Y-yeah?" Lance asked, uncertain. 

"Thanks." Keith replied. "For… having my back back there." 

Lance could feel the heat rising to his cheeks as he moved to thread an arm around Keith's waist. "Duh. I'm not just gonna let you have  _ all _ the fun dying a noble death in battle. Then who'd help me keep Shiro from working himself to death?" 

Shiro's chuckle had both of them looking at the taller man. "Well… I guess it's definitely good we have our sharpshooter. You really did good back there, Lance." His voice was warm and steady despite the scrapes and scuffs on his body and armor.

Oh great  _ both _ of them were complimenting him now. It wasn't that he  _ minded _ the attention—of course not, he loved it—but the fluttering feelings that these two gave him were still not something he was used to yet. Lance could feel his cheeks burning. 

"Guys…" Lance squirmed under the attention with a small smile only to find himself enveloped in two simultaneous warm hugs. Shiro's was strong and firm while Keith's was more shaky and weak but still solidly determined. 

But both had him blushing and feeling warm and relieved. He was glad that no one's injuries had been more serious. And he was glad, more than anything, that he had them both at his sides.

A kiss to each cheek from each of the two around him only had Lance ducking to hide his face and the deep tint of his blush. He did his best to grab onto whatever parts of their armor he could to hug back, clutching the other two close to him with a laugh and a smile.

They made for a good team, the three of them and all the members of the team as a whole. As long as they worked together, they had this in the bag. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this fic, I encourage you to check out some of my other works and whack that author subscription button on my profile for more updates in the future! You can also find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/hedonistink), [tumblr,](http://hedonistink.tumblr.com/) or [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/HedonistInk) for WIPs, idea snippets, behind the scenes tidbits, and extras!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are treasured and appreciated! Your feedback gives me life and fuels me!


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